Thursday, February 1, 2018

Huskies Host Cleveland State for Senior Night on Friday

(Photo courtesy of Bloomsburg University Sports Information)

STORYLINE

The Huskies look to secure an Eastern Wrestling League (EWL) win at home Friday night (Feb. 2) when they welcome the Vikings of Cleveland State to the Nelson Field House. Prior to the match, the team's two seniors in Andy Schutz (Exeter, Pa./Wyoming Area) and Kevin Laubach Jr. (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) will be honored.

SENIOR NIGHTBloomsburg wrestling will honor its two seniors, Schutz and Laubach before the match.

Laubach has wrestled to a career record of 32-46 at Bloomsburg, including an 8-8 mark so far this season. He has recorded four bonus-point wins this season, all by fall. This season, Laubach also placed second at the Wilkes Open on Dec. 22. For his career, Laubach has totaled 15 bonus point wins with 14 pins and one technical fall. He is a two-time placer at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships, finishing sixth at 149 pounds in 2014-15 and third place at 157 pounds in 2016-17. Off the mat, Laubach was named a PSAC Scholar Athlete in 2014-15. The Berwick, Pa. native is the son of Kevin and Susan Laubach, and is an economics major.

Schutz owns a 51-41 career record at Bloomsburg to date, including a 17-6 mark this season. Along with going 8-3 in dual matches this season, Schutz has also gone 9-3 in tournament competition. He placed fourth at the Clarion Open (Nov. 5), won the Black Knight Invitational (Nov. 19) and finished second at the PSAC Championships (Dec. 9). The week of Nov. 13-19 he was named both the EWL and PSAC Wrestler of the Week. Schutz has totaled 10 bonus-point wins this season, including six wins by fall, two tech falls and two major decisions. He has 36 career bonus-point wins coming by 20 pins, four tech falls and 12 major decisions. Schutz was also a third-place finisher at the 2014-15 PSAC Championships, as well as a second-place finisher at the tournament in 2015-16. The Exeter, Pa. native is the son of Michael and Andrea Schutz, and is a graduate student in finance.

ALL-TIME SERIESThis will be the 40th all-time meeting between Bloomsburg and Cleveland State. Bloomsburg holds the all-time advantage 22-14 with three ties also on record. Cleveland State has won the last three matches in the series.

LAST MEETINGCleveland State nipped Bloomsburg at home 26-23 last season on Feb. 3, 2017 to extend their series winning streak to three. Willy Girard (Williamstown, Pa/Williams Valley) started off the match with a 5-3 decision over John Martin at 125 pounds, before Matt Noble (Bridgewater, NJ/DePaul Catholic (NJ)) won by fall in 20 seconds at 133. The Huskies forfeited the 141-pound weight-class, before the Vikings won by fall at 149. A team point was also deducted from Bloomsburg due to misconduct during the 149-pound bout. Laubach put Bloomsburg up 14-12 with a fall in 2:49 at 157 pounds, before Cleveland State won by major decision at 165 to go up 16-14. Trevor Allard (Mexico, N.Y./Mexico) earned a 5-2 decision at 174, before Cleveland State got a major decision and a forfeit to take control of the match for good. Bruce Graeber(Feasterville, Pa./Neshaminy) would win by fall in 2:07 to close out the match.

LAST TIME OUTThe Huskies dropped their EWL contest at #19 Rider 36-6 on Sunday afternoon (Jan. 28). Rider used a forfeit, three decisions, one technical fall, one major decision and one win by fall to build a 30-0 lead before forfeiting the 184-pound bout to Allard. The Broncs closed the match out with back-to-back decisions at 197 pounds and 285 pounds to seal the victory at home.After a forfeit at 125 pounds gave Rider a 6-0 lead, Schutz would drop a close 3-2 decision at 133 pounds to Anthony Cefolo. The bout was scoreless after one period, and Cefolo built a 3-0 lead heading to the third. Schutz fought back to get within one, but was unable to get the equalizing point in the third. Tyson Dippery defeated Shawn Orem (Pasadena, Md./Mount Saint Joseph) by tech fall at 141 to stretch Rider's lead to 14-0, before Gino Fluri defeated Evan Campbell (Berwick, Pa./Central Columbia) by decision 10-3 at 149 pounds. Laubach was defeated by major decision 15-5 at 157 by B.J. Clagon, before No. 3 Chad Walsh pinned Nate Newberry (Biglerville, Pa./Biglerville) in 6:12. Kyle Murphy (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) dropped a hard-fought 9-5 decision at 174 pounds to recently-named EWL Wrestler of the Week Dean Sherry, before Allard collected the forfeit win. Logan Womelsdorf (Benton, Pa./Northwest Area) fell by decision 10-4 to Ethan Laird at 197, before Ryan Cloud closed out the match with a 2-1 decision over Graeber at 285.

Cleveland State fell on Sunday (Jan. 28) in EWL action at Clarion 20-12. After falling behind 7-0, Evan cheek got Cleveland State on the scoreboard with an 8-3 decision over Evan Myers at 141 pounds. Ryan Ford followed it up at 149 pounds with a 5-2 win by decision over Taylor Ortz. Clarion and Cleveland State would trade decision at 157 and 165 to leave the Golden Eagles up 10-9, before another Clarion decision at 174 increased their lead to four. Nick Corba gutted out a 1-0 decision win at 184, before Clarion captured the final two bouts by decision and major decision to hang on for the conference win.

SCOUTING BLOOMSBURGAllard is the team's leader in total wins with 22, while Schutz is second on the team with a 17-6 record. Allard also has a team-high nine dual wins, while Schutz has eight. Three other men have double-digit wins on the season, with Graeber totaling 16, Murphy with 12 and Saul Wilkins IV (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./GAR Memorial) with 10. Seven other men have recorded at least one win in dual match competition. As a team, the Huskies have recorded 48 bonus-point wins on the season. BU has registered 25 pins, nine technical falls and 14 major decisions. Schutz and Allard are tied for the team lead in bonus-point wins with 10, while Schutz and Womelsdorf each lead the team in pins with six. Allard and Schutz share the team's lead in wins by tech fall with two-apiece, while Allard's six major decisions are a team-high.

SCOUTING CLEVELAND STATECorba leads the Vikings with a team-high 21 wins, and also with a team-best 8-1 dual record. He is also 3-0 in the EWL and has out-scored opponents in dual matches 33-5. He has recorded 12 bonus-point wins on the season (team-high) and also leads the team in pins with seven. His other five bonus-point victories came by three tech falls and two major decisions. Three other Vikings have recorded double-digit wins on the season in Caleb Stockmaster (174 pounds, 14-8), Cheek (141 pounds, 12-6) and Gabe Stark (174 pounds, 11-10). As a team, the Vikings have registered 68 bonus-point victories by 36 pins, 10 tech falls and 22 major decisions. Corba and Cheek share the team lead in tech falls with three, while Cheek and Stockmaster are tied for the team lead in major decisions with three.

UP NEXTThe Huskies are back at home next Friday (Feb. 9) when they battle EWL rival Clarion at the Nelson Field House. The action is set to begin at 7:00 p.m.